Sips and Sunflowers

I just got back to Virginia after six weeks away. It feels so good to be back home and get back into somewhat of a normal routine. With some free days before school starts back up again, I decided to check some new wineries off my list before the school year gets crazy! Living in Richmond now, I have been wanting to explore wineries that are a little closer. 

On the list for the day was:
Byrd Cellars,
Elk Island Winery, 
Picking sunflowers at Lickinghole Creek Brewery. 

All of them are very close to each other making it easy to do all three. Byrd and Elk Island are actually right next to each other, and Lickinghole is about 10 minutes from those two wineries. 

Byrd Cellars

First stop! We did a great tasting here and tried about 7 wines plus their homemade sangria and frosé for $7. I would say that their wines were sweeter than I am used to, which definitely pleased my friend who likes her wines sweeter. From the wines I tasted, my favorite was the Velvet wine which uses the Norton grape. I really enjoyed their frosé as it was a hot day and that was very refreshing! It is made from their rosé, which was slightly on the sweeter side. You can enjoy some wine inside where they have a bunch of tables, or sit on their relaxing deck which has a woodsy vibe. 

Elk Island Winery

Next up - Elk Island! They have wine tastings for $6 and you can choose which 6 wines you want to taste! I really enjoyed their Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier. I'm already excited to go back and try more wines next visit. They also have an AMAZING sangria! It was a green tea ginger sangria, that I could totally sip all day. I actually decided to get a glass of this because it was so delicious! They actually have the recipe on their website if you want to check it out. I love when wineries have at least part of the vineyard accessible, so I really enjoyed visiting Elk Island. Also harvest is coming up so it was fun seeing all of the grapes on the vines. 

Lickinghole Creek Brewery

About ten minutes from the two wineries, you will find Lickinghole Creek. Personally, I am not able to drink beer so I can't attest to the beer here but I have heard that it's good. The scenery is beautiful and you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere. The reason I wanted to visit is because there are sunflower fields on the property, and you can actually pick them! It has always been on my bucket list to pick sunflowers so when I heard about this place I had to check it out. Sunflower season goes from the end of June through August. Bring your own shears and you can pick a bundle for $5 and then enjoy some beer!